Tide turns for fishing museum

Visitors are returning to hear tales of hardship on the seas

Grimsby's National Fishing Heritage Centre is set to open its doors all year round once again after a sharp rise in the number of visitors.

The museum has seen a 44% surge in visitor numbers this year alone.

And school trips to the site on the North East Lincolnshire port's Alexandra Dock are up by a third.

The success means that this year's seasonal winter closure on Friday is likely to be the last.

The award-winning centre began to close over the winter several years ago in a bid to cut spiralling losses.

But now the tide has turned the attraction looks set to open all year round from next April.

The National Fishing Heritage Centre tells the story of fishermen, their boats and the waters they fished in, with the dangers and hardships of life at sea graphically explained.

Visitors can also be guided by a former trawlerman around the ex-Grimsby trawler Ross Tiger, built in the 1950s and now fully restored and berthed next to the centre.